The IEM Cologne Major field is confirmed, and the turnover from StarLadder Budapest 2025 tells a clear story: the VRS qualification system is doing its job. Ten teams that weren't in Budapest are heading to Cologne, with ten others from the previous Major failing to make it back.
Who's In
FUT, Monte, 9z, BIG, BetBoom, SINNERS, Sharks, Gaimin Gladiators, THUNDER dOWNUNDER, and HEROIC all missed Budapest and return to the Major stage. Of those, four will play a Major for the very first time: THUNDER dOWNUNDER, FUT, SINNERS, and Gaimin Gladiators. For those organizations and their players, Cologne isn't just another tournament.
Who Didn't Make It Back
Ten Budapest teams won't be in Cologne: The Huns, RED Canids, Rare Atom, Imperial, Fluxo, NIP, fnatic, FaZe, 3DMAX, and Passion UA. FaZe's absence is the headline after missing their first Major since entering CS in 2016. NIP and fnatic, two of Counter-Strike's most historic names, are both watching from home.
The System Is Working
When Valve replaced the RMR with the VRS, plenty of skeptics predicted the same teams would cycle through every Major forever with no real path in for smaller organizations. A ten-team swap between back-to-back Majors is a reasonable answer to that concern. The top of the field remains stable, the elite teams aren't missing out, but the bottom of the bracket is genuinely contested and open. That's exactly what healthy Major qualification should look like.
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